Melania comes from the Greek melas and means "black" or "dark", the same root that gives Melanie its name. Two Roman saints, Melania the Elder and Melania the Younger, carried it in the early church, and it remains the usual form in Italy, Spain, Poland and Slovenia. In the United States Melania entered the top 1000 at number 934 in 2017, the year Melania Trump became First Lady, and has since eased to number 1172 in 2025.